1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a system-on-chip, which may include a plurality of power domains, for example, a system-on-chip capable of adjusting a voltage level and a method for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
With higher integration, larger numbers of transistors may be formed in smaller areas and plurality of IP (intellectual property) blocks may be integrated into a single chip.
However, performance of an entire chip may be determined by the IP block with a critical performance because various IP blocks used in designing a system-on-chip may have different performances. In addition, or alternatively, power consumption may be not reduced or significantly reduced even though higher performance IP blocks performance may run at a lower frequency (e.g., a frequency lower than a maximum operating frequency). This may result in inefficient use of power (e.g., power may be wasted).
In one example, if the chip including a plurality of IP blocks has one power domain, a target frequency may be set to an operating frequency of the IP block with the worst performance (e.g., a critical operating frequency). Consequently, other IP blocks may operate at lower speeds (e.g., speeds lower than a maximum speed).
When the IP blocks with various performances are integrated into one system-on-chip, it may be necessary to consider the performance difference between the IP blocks or modules in the IP blocks so as to improve and/or optimize the performance of an entire chip and its power consumption.